If this is your first visit, be sure to
check out the Forum Rules by clicking the
link above. You may have to register
before you can post: click the register link above to proceed. To start viewing messages,
select the forum that you want to visit from the selection below.

Dual-Boot BT5 and Windows XP BT is first!

Can't seem to find any good documentation about how to install Windows on a machine that already has BT5 installed on it. When I installed BT5 I had it do the default install and erase everything but BT. Now I would like to ADD Windows but keep BT as the main OS. How can I do that???

Re: Dual-Boot BT5 and Windows XP BT is first!

You can try resizing the BT partition and then creating a new partition for Windows in the unallocated space. I had Windows on the whole drive and I installed BT by resizing the partition and then making a new one in the unallocated space. I don't know for sure that the opposite would work, but might be worth a try. You can probably use a Gparted live cd but I used a Partition Wizard live cd--can it get free from their website. On NTFS drives it can resize partitions without losing data--it can probably do so on ext partitions also but I haven't tried that myself. Obviously if you do this you should back everything important up first.

If you are able to resize it and make a new partition, then you would install Windows on the new partition, then restore GRUB to the MBR. You can boot into BT with Super Grub2 Disk as long as you have a grub.cfg somewhere on the BT partition and it's active, even if the MBR got destroyed. Then once you're in BT you can just reinstall GRUB to the MBR with grub-install /dev/sda (or whatever is your drive letter). Could also load a BT live cd and repair the boot loader there. For me it was easier to use Super Grub2 Disk since I already had the disk handy.

Or instead of doing a dual boot you could just install Windows on a virtual machine.

Re: Dual-Boot BT5 and Windows XP BT is first!

xorcrack,

I can walk you through very easily how to do this. Granted, sickness's method would work, but it does not address the question you ask.
So here we go. First off I need to know a little bit about yer setup.

How many primary partitions do you currently have in place?
-Are you using extended partitions?

How many operating systems currently reside on the machine?
-If more than backtrack, what are they?

What is the size of the hard drive?

Which partition is backtrack currently residing on?

Which partition would you like windows to reside on?

Which version of windows are you installing? As well, 32 or 64-bit?

Soon as you give me all that, I'll post a really quick way to do exactly what it is you want. I've done it myself numerous times.

I want to make it known, Windows DOES NOT have to be on the first partition of a harddrive, NOR does it require MORE THAN one partition It just requires a bit of tinkering and patience

V/r,
Snafu
Pffbt..

I made a discovery today. I found a computer. Wait a second, this is cool. It does what I want it to. If it makes a mistake, it's because I screwed it up. Not because it doesn't like me... Or feels threatened by me.. Or thinks I'm a smart ass..

Re: Dual-Boot BT5 and Windows XP BT is first!

I tried to respond to this thread yesterday but the forum was loading very slowly and it seems my response wasn't posted.

I believe the OP's situation is that his HD has one partition containing BT, and that there is sufficient space on the partition for another OS. I had a similar situation when installing BT in that I had 1 partition containing Windows. I was able to install BT without losing any data. OP's situation is similar so I think this should work. Obviously back up any data first in case things go wrong.

1) Burn a partition manager live CD using something like Gparted or Partition Wizard. I used Partition Wizard because it can resize partitions without losing data. I don't know whether Gparted can do this or not, you'd have to look into it.
2) Boot from the live CD
3) Resize the partition and create a new partition for BT in the unallocated space.
4) Install Windows onto new partition. This will overwrite the MBR and kill Grub, but it can be easily restored.
5) There are several ways to restore Grub. I had to restore it after encrypting Windows with Truecrypt, and what I did was to use Super Grub 2 disk to boot into BT (this will work as long as SG2 can find a grub.cfg file on the HD) then in console did "grub-install /dev/sda". You could also just use a BT live CD, mount your BT partition (say /dev/sda1) with "mount /dev/sda1 /mnt" then "grub-install --root-directory=/dev/sda1 /dev/sda". You may have to manually add a menu entry for Windows also by editing /etc/grub.d/40_custom (after booting into BT HD again) then run "update-grub". For details on making menu entries check here https://help.ubuntu.com/community/Grub2

Alternatively, you can install Windows onto a virtual machine using something like VirtualBox.

Re: Dual-Boot BT5 and Windows XP BT is first!

the best way is to format your disk.then make the partitions you want from windows xp dvd .install first windows xp.
after this install backtrack to the other partition. i do not think that is good method to install windows xp while backtrack is already install